Lucky Pearl

Scooped up by a large hanging claw, the sisters’ boat was slowly lowered into the small seafaring town to show them a crowd of displeased onlookers.

“Why do they look so angry…?” Katie reasoned to ask, if only in a low murmur. Frankie just analyzed their appearances. All of them were strangely well-dressed and in slightly better shape than the average tourist. Something told them neither of these features were coincidental.

In the very front of the audience, one stood more aggravated than all the rest- crossing her long, bare arms and standing with her long legs spread, feet pointing in opposite directions in a power stance- they could see the fury on her sharp face, looking down on them even as they dropped in from above her.

Plopping the boat right onto the deck where she stood, the tall woman did not approach the girls. Continuing to stare at them, her dark blue jacket behind her shoulders and her white tank top under the pressure of those sturdy crossed arms, she addressed them almost telepathically with her bravado alone- they could tell this was the ship’s captain.

“In all my forty years as a seafarer… I’ve never seen such disregard for safety in my whole life.” Her voice came out in a gruff and imposing growl. She sounded like she could throw them to the bottom of the ocean.

“We were wearing life jackets.” Katie argued, talking back accidentally in a way more shocking than when her sister did it intentionally. Frankie was mortified as always by Katie’s foolhardy remarks. “…Come to think of it, you’re not wearing a life jacket. Hey wait, none of you are!” She seemed amused to notice, not actually intending to sound so obnoxious. Needless to say the intent was lost, but not in the way the shaking girl next to her had expected.

The captain boasted a hearty laugh, adjusting her cap once she was done. She was near twice the height as Frankie, so she was quivering a little as the woman stepped right up to them, looming above their heads.

“You kids are too much trouble to keep around. I’m takin’ you someplace else.”

The blue-haired sister gulped. Was she going to send them to the bottom of the ocean?

They found themselves in a large cabin, posters of the park on the walls alongside ships in bottles and old wine. All the merchandising around them said this illustrious amusement vessel was known as the Lucky Pearl.

The wood here was dry and soft, giving off a calming scent. Unlike their small craft, you could feel almost no ambient bobbing on this moving city as you sat inside it. In front of the captain’s desk, they took perfectly still seats and waited for her to speak.

“You’re rite stupid for coming up to my boat, as ye are. You know this cruise is for relaxation? The rich don’t appreciate bein’ disturbed.” She played with a pipe on her desk, touching it to her lips, but didn’t smoke anything.

“Is your park only for rich people?” Katie continued to ask the hard-hitting questions. Frankie would’ve groaned if not for the terror she still felt from being around this supremely confident woman, though the fear was slowly melting as she saw her true colors. Startled as she was, she was happy to see her burst into laughter again.

“Aye, you wouldn’t be wrong to think about it that way. S’not my park, though. I just make sure we don’t run into any bloody death traps.” She sneered at the two girls accusingly. “Which one o’ you was in charge when Poseidon drew his sights on ye?”

“I-It was automated.” They both blinked as Frankie spoke. The captain groaned, leaning her neck back until she faced the cabin ceiling.

“A nice thought, but don’t be expectin’ me to believe it just ‘cause it makes me feel like my job matters for something.” She tilted her head back down at them, showing them her narrow brown eyes. “Software doesn’t eff up that badly these days unless you deliberately tamper with it.”

“It’s true.” Katie insisted. “We were right on course and then just wound up there. It avoided plenty of waves before that.”

“Bull.” She narrowed her cold eyes even further at the lass. “Never seen such happen in all my years.”

“We… aren’t trying to save face here, it really went down like that.” Frankie backed her sister up. Not of an unreasonable sort, the captain was starting to listen.

“Let’s say that is true.” She rested her elbows on her desk. “Why didn’t it see those tides coming? That was no small surge. You could’ve drowned.”

“I have no idea, ma’am.”

The woman tilted back her chair and propped her feet up on the desk.

“You can call me Hannigan. Feel free to stay on the ship, butcha won’t be lasting long without pay.”

“We just want to get to Europe.” Frankie stated bluntly. Hannigan laughed.

“Good for you, then. We’ll be stopping there in a few days… though that doesn’t mean you can just catch a premium cruise ride for free.”

“We… can’t really blow a ton of money on an expensive park.” Katie considered. She had to make this cash last, unlike last time.

“Staff’ll kick you off if not. They’re bloody savages here. Make me look like a nice lady. Pay up… or walk the plank. Their rules, not mine.”

“There’s not… anything else we could do instead?” Frankie tried her best to bargain.

Captain Hannigan smirked.

“…I might have some work for ye.”